President's Message
- Volume 52, Number 6 - 2008
Now is not the time to run and hide.
Today’s challenging times
call for county officials
and employees to step up participation in events
that will ultimately
enhance the lives of Alabama’s residents.
Elsewhere in this magazine you will read about one of the Association’s most significant accomplishments in recent years – the funding and implementation of a statewide program to deliver the most cutting-edge 9-1-1
service in every corner of our state.
Though making such a statement is rather easy, the accomplishment of this goal is, again, one of our finest hours.
For there are few states now able to receive and locate the origin of a 9-1-1 distress call made anywhere within their borders. This technology, known by those in the business as “Phase II,” is essential to saving the lives of those who can make a call but cannot speak or are unable to describe their exact location. Such technology is expensive, but essential to our responsibilities to do all we can to protect the citizens of our counties.
The achievement of this statewide program illustrates what we can do together, as a county family, if we focus ourselves and dedicate our efforts on a common goal.
This technology should be operational in the entire state by June. This goal has been achieved without the imposition of a new tax on Alabama’s consumers and, for the most part, has been made possible by 9-1-1 directors working to help each other.
During my remarks at ACCA’s Annual Convention last August, I spoke of the need for us to work together to overcome the many challenges facing county government in Alabama. The challenges are many: a lack of funding for essential government services, the need to be a leader in economic development, the demands on government services and infrastructure created by residential and commercial growth in our unincorporated areas, just to name a few – and have been made all the worse by the economic conditions impacting our entire nation.
Back in August, I certainly could not forecast the financial downturn that now has county officials across our state facing almost unthinkable decisions. Do they cut government services, or do they reduce the workforce putting some employees out of work during a time when so many others are unemployed?
There appears to be no “right” answer. In fact, one could argue that no matter what avenue is selected, the community is almost certainly to suffer for a long time to come.
As county elected officials and employees, we must respond to these challenging times by enhancing, not reducing, our participation in the organization that has been the key to our success for so many years. The easy answer now is to reduce participation, to stay in your home county, to turn out the lights, and to eliminate all travel and training expenditures from next year’s budget.
Such a decision ignores the lessons that should have been learned from so many of our achievements, such as the delivery of the important 9-1-1 services.
For the past three years, 9-1-1 directors from across Alabama have worked to achieve this goal and to make sure the technology was operational in the most rural and financially-challenged of our counties.
Those directors began by holding district meetings across our state, think tanks that led to the drafting of a unique solution to the implementation of this much-needed technology. Then, these directors fanned out through the state to meet with their legislators.
Later, they traveled to Montgomery to help push the legislation through the process, and then turned to educational programs and one-on-one sessions to educate themselves on the implementation of this program.
All of these activities required an investment of time and money. Today, the investment is paying dividends with the provision of a service that will undoubtedly save many lives in the coming years.
With the process stated, the easy answer would have been to stay at home, save money, focus only on the most-necessary expenditures, and keep the “basic” operation rolling. Obviously, such a decision would have been a disaster.
Similarly, if we decide that the answer to these challenging times is to return to our courthouse, board up the windows, disconnect the phones and wait for the storm to blow over, we will be doomed to failure.
We can only overcome the difficulties that face us if we stay in touch with the activities in our state and around the world; if we search for innovative solutions to our problems; if we are available to grab opportunities when they present themselves; and if we keep ourselves and our staff up-to-date and educated on the changing environment that is county government.
There are other problems to be solved, other innovative solutions to be carved, new regulations and guidelines to implement...such is the business of county government. These things will not stop simply because we face financial difficulties.
In fact, the economic conditions have only made the problems even more intense. The need for active participation is more acute today than it was last August. If we are to overcome the setbacks we have endured, we must lean more heavily on the things that have worked for us during the good times.
Now that we are facing tough times, don’t turn out the lights and stay home. If you do, you may not be able to turn them back on.
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